What Christmas books do your children really love?

[weeblueberry]

DD is going to be 18mo this Christmas and I'd really love to have a Christmas book to read to her for every day of advent. Obviously she is still quite young but I would like to have stories that can come out for a good 4-5 years still (so think more Polar Express and less That's Not My Reindeer )

What Christmas books do your children love or have loved? We've already got Polar Express, The Jolly Christmas Postman and The Night Before Christmas.

[weeblueberry]

Thanks again all. I have a huge list of possibilities now!!

[ScrabbledLeggsAndToes]

Quick question for those of you who have Christmas in the Mouse House..... Is it American, does it use Americanisms like Mom instead of Mum?

Just wondering.

[tomatok]

My daughter loved the Little Rabbit books (there's one called Little Rabbit's Christmas). They have wonderfully detailed illustrations, and, while they tend to have a positive message like most kids books, there is a little naughtiness about Little Rabbit that the kids love.

Just whatever you do, don't google why the author isn't writing any more books.

[DaffodilField]

Mine love Dear Santa which is a spin off of Dear Zoo. I love Dear Zoo. Dear Santa is rubbish though as far as I am concerned plus gives dubious moral messages (presents too small so get sent back!), but the kids love it.

[glenthebattleostrich]

We've just bought Tolkien s letters from father christmas for the 4 year old, its a lovely collection of letters he wrote to his children each year. We are going to read one per day during advent

[MrsMarigold]

Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs - love it
Also another one about the Nativity can't recall the name but the innkeeper is really grumpy.

[whojamaflip]

Our Christmas Eve story is The Mousehole Cat - my dcs love finding it in the decorations box each year - it has even had to travel to GPS house when we had Christmas there one year

[2cats2many]

The smelly sprout. Its very funny and a bit sad at the end.

[HiawathaDidntBotherTooMuch]

The Melrose and croc christmas book is lovely
The polar express is DS' favourite
Topsy and tim meet Father Christmas (or something like that)
Alfie's Christmas, which came out last year

[HiawathaDidntBotherTooMuch]

And stick man!

[Taffeta]

We read Olivias Christmas. We all like the baby being sick in it. Then on 23rd we read the night before the night before Christmas ( Richard Scarry ) and then on 24th the night before Christmas.

[LittleMissGreen]

On Angel Wings by Michael Morpurgno is a lovely story
I'm also rather fond of Osbert, a story about a boy who is desperate for a real life penguin for Christmas. But finds out when he arrives that he is a little harder to look after than he thought.
Father Christmas letters by Tolkein are great.
The Fourth King goes down well.

[FixItUpChappie]

thank you Taffta....I totally forgot about that Richard Scary book. I've just ordered it on Amazon. I haven't seen that book since I was a child

[Alexaa]

My little girls have two favourite books:
The Best Christmas Present in the World- Michael Morpurgo
Eloise at Christmastime- Kay Thompson

[bigbluestars]

Try your local library- ours has hundreds of children's christmas books that they only bring out in the month of December. We could get through twenty books or so easily in the weeks leading up to christmas. Much cheaper than buying them.

[ScrabbledLeggsAndToes]

Oh, it sounds silly but I'd forgotten about the library! Must get ds (10 months) signed up. I bet they have lots of nice board books

[chickensaresafehere]

Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs is a big favourite in this house too.

[ScrabbledLeggsAndToes]

It is definitely a good idea to borrow from the library. I was going to buy a few Christmas books that I can read to my ds every single year. I borrowed quite a few books yesterday, and I know that had I bought some of them I would have been disappointed.

For anyone that is interested:-

Jeaus' Christmas Party by Nicholas Allan - Very disappointed. Have heard good things about it, but I didn't think it had anything going for it.

When it Snows by Richard Collingridge - Beautiful pictures, very short story. Bit of a rubbish storyline.

My Penguin, Osbert by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel - Nice storyline, gorgeous pictures. Quite a few Americanisms. Main character shares ds's name so I think that made me like it more

Room For a Little One by Martin Waddell - Absolutely stunning illustrations. Simple retelling of the Nativity story. I think it would hold the attention of a young child.

The Little Reindeer by Caroline Repchuk - Ok book. Just average really. Bit of a predictable story, but maybe that wouldn't matter to a small child.

The Mole Family Christmas by Russell Hoban - Lovely little story. About a mole who finds out all about Christmas, and "The fat man in a red suit". Wouldn't hold the attention of a young child, but is lovely for when slightly older. My favourite

Of course, everybody likes different things. I thought I would just post about them in case other people were still looking for books to read in the lead up to Christmas.

[thegreylady]

We have a lovely book called Mouse's Christmas which comes out every year and even last year 10 yr old dgd had it out :) There are cut out windows on every page and also an elf hiding. The story itself is very simple but lovely and the illustrations are great.

[ScrabbledLeggsAndToes]

Just to clarify, there are 2 main characters....and ds is NOT called OSBERT!!

[fuzzpig]

It's all about the grinch in our house - dr Seuss never fails :o

[Sukebind]

Lots of great ideas here! I would add Christmas on Blackberry Farm, Christmas on Exeter Street, The Nativity Play, the twelve days of Christmas with pigs as the lady and her true love and the twelve days of Christmas anthology with illustrations by Tony Ross. Also a version of the first Christmas.

[Sukebind]

Also the book of poetry for young children edited by John Foster. And I have ordered The Lion, the Unicorn and Me by Jeanette Winterson this year.
We do a similar thing to the advent Christmas books mentioned in the link up-thread but we have it after Christmas as a 12 days of Christmas thing. I read a book that said children can feel quite flat after the huge build up to Christmas day itself so we use the books as a way of keeping things special for a bit longer. Also, we are very much book people and books would always be part of their Christmas presents but if they got them all at once on the day itself it would all just be too much. My two are very into fairies so the Book Fairy leaves the books every night in a box they decorate to leave out. I get a lot if the books second hand, from charity shops or at least from book people!

[DesperatelySeekingSedatives]

DS (3) and DD (7) are proud owners of:

stickman
Lucy and Toms Christmas
The night before Christmas
Father Christmas needs a wee
Snow lady
Angel Mae
Winnie the Poohs Christmas
a nativity book that I cant remember the name of but its a touch and feel book its so lovely I cant bear to part with it even though my 2 are no longer babies
Santa Claus is coming to my house (you can often get ones that are aimed specifically at where you live like Liverpool, Brighton, and loads more)

Going to get a couple more, one each for this year. DS will get Alfie and Annie Rose's Christmas (big fans of Shirley hughes here can you tell?)